


Something Like a Vacation

by jelasdax



Category: 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), Fast and the Furious Series
Genre: Friendship, M/M, Matchmaking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-20
Updated: 2015-10-20
Packaged: 2018-04-27 06:22:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5037220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jelasdax/pseuds/jelasdax
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rome is an amazing friend, and Brian had just better appreciate everything he's doing here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something Like a Vacation

**Author's Note:**

> Rome as the long-suffering matchmaker type was just too good to resist. Set post-2 Fast 2 Furious.

“How long’s he been like this?”

Rome had to lean into Tej’s space a little to make sure Tej heard him. A little ways off Brian was grinning and doing all kinds of grandstanding to celebrate his win, and the crowd was noisy as fuck.

Tej eyed him. “What do you mean?”

‘What did he mean.’ Was the man blind, or what? “Brian, man! How long has he been doing this devil may care shit? I thought it was just the Verone job that was making him all crazy, but it hasn’t stopped.” He eyed Tej back just as sceptically. “So tell me, just how long has Brian been like this?”

They looked at each other for a long moment before Tej sighed. “Look, Roman: he’s been like this for as long as I’ve known him.”

Shit. That’s what Rome had been worried about. 

—

After that he started watching Brian more. Growing up they’d gotten into a lot of trouble, just like most kids in their area had, but Brian had always been good about getting them out of it. Now it seemed like he was throwing himself into anything and everything. He just grinned that insane grin of his and jumped right in. Tej’s races weren’t helping, either: Rome had been in Miami for a while now, and he’d seen the way they operated. Tej would take his course to the next level and Brian would win it and make it look easy as anything, and then they’d giggle about it afterwards and go off and do it all over again. 

When Brian had first brought him here, Rome had thought he was being all nuts ’cause of the FBI catching up and pulling him back in after he’d gotten out. 

Now he wasn’t so sure. 

—

Brian flirted and made eyes at lots of people. Most often it was ladies with skin like honey, dark eyes and darker hair, or the occasional blonde bombshell, but sometimes, almost as though he couldn’t help himself, Brian would end up lingering over the more muscled guys - if they had shaved heads too, the glances turned into appreciative stares. 

And sure, Brian flirted a lot, but Rome finally noticed that it was rare for him to go any further than flirting. The closest he’d come to scoring with any of them had been with Monica, and that had been weeks ago now. For all that Brian had seemed to dig her during their little mission thing, Brian sure hadn’t been too broken up about it when she’d swanned off for good. 

Meanwhile what little he could get out of Tej was only reinforcing the bad feeling Rome was getting. Brian being in full on crazy mode with no signs of stopping, not even trying to get laid, and all the racing the fool was doing was adding up to some seriously messed up shit. 

Rome was gonna have to take drastic action. 

—

“Hey Brian, why you so sad all the time?”

Brian looked up from the CT400 he was tuning and flashed a grin at him. 

“Look at where we are, Rome,” he said and gestured. Rome took a quick look around Tej’s garage, then looked back at Brian. He raised his eyebrows. So? 

Brian shook his head. “Why would I be sad? This place is hot.” 

Brian was right: even discarding how well equipped the garage was Tej’s place was the shit, what with the ladies that always seemed to be around - smoking hot and often wearing bikinis. It was like heaven for dudes who liked cars and beautiful women. Unfortunately for Rome Brian had always been a great liar. Apparently he’d only gotten better with age; Rome _knew_ he was lying, and even he had trouble nailing it down as a lie. Looked like being a fucking cop had just improved Brian’s lying skills. Good thing Rome didn’t didn’t care too much about playing the game anymore.

“Yeah. It’s good,” Rome agreed. “But if this place is so hot, then how come you ain’t living it up like I know you can?” 

Brian’s eyes lost some shine even while his smile stayed at full brightness, and he straightened up from over the engine. “Where is this coming from, Rome?” he said, mild as you please. “I’m fine. Just ’cause I’m not fucking anything that moves doesn’t mean I’m not fine.” 

Rome winced a little and hoped Brian didn’t notice. 

Yeah, after the whole Verone thing he’d gotten a little fond of the Miami nightlife, but fuck it: he’d spent three years in Chino and then another year on an extremely short leash, and since that fucker Verone had been put away he’d gotten a little high on life. 

What with Brian not making any indications that he’d like to pick up where they’d left off in Barstow, Rome’s newfound freedom, and the fact that last time they’d gone that route they’d been teenagers, Rome wasn’t about to sniff around after Brian like some sad pathetic sucker. They’d never had that kind of relationship, and for the most part Rome hadn’t wanted it anyway. 

It was just another mark in the “Oh Shit” category though because that was below the belt for Brian, and the too-casual way Brian was wiping his hands on a rag meant that Brian knew it.

“We done here? I’ve got shit to do.” And Brian took off without waiting for a response.

Rome stared at Brian’s retreating back for a second and then shouted, “So this is you being fine, is it? I’m gonna remember that for next time!”

“Yeah, no,” he said to Tej later, “that boy is not okay. Tell me everything you know.”

—

Sadly, ‘everything Tej knew’ was pretty damn pathetic. One day Brian had blown into town with a tricked out Skyline and he’d gotten into the racing scene almost immediately. He’d become friendly wth Tej and his crew, Tej made some money off of him, and Brian had been living on the houseboat for months before Rome showed up. 

“He’s been the same guy ever since he first showed up," Tej finished. He was sprawled in one of the deck chairs surveying the work going on around him and looking particularly lazy, though after the weeks Rome had spent kicking it in Miami he knew it was mostly for show. Tej ran a good business when he wasn’t trying to get into Suki’s pants. 

Rome took a quick look around too, but once he’d seen that Brian wasn’t anywhere in earshot he focussed in on Tej again. Apparently Tej didn’t know how big a deal this was, and it was gonna be up to Rome to fill him in. 

And when Rome got desperate the whole entire concept of subtlety went out the window, with a big old ‘screw you’ thrown in for good measure. 

He leaned forward, so as to impress upon Tej the seriousness of the situation. “If you’re telling me that he’s been like _this_ for _months_ , then you and me are about to have a problem. Unless we do something about it.” 

Rome squinted: it looked like Tej had stopped breathing. Yeah, the man was slowly getting it. Now Rome needed to really drive it home - he tried to do what Brian had done when they were teenagers, and make his voice all compelling so people would believe what he said. This was important. “You thought all that stuff, back then, that game of chicken shit for the Yenko and Challenger, and driving into a fucking yacht was bad? It’s only gonna get worse. Our boy is a special kind of crazy when he’s distracting himself from something.”

Tej winced. “Our boy?”

Rome crossed his arms and put a little extra something into his loom. “Yeah, our boy. I ain’t doing this by myself anymore, and anyway, don’t even try and tell me he’s not your friend.”

“Alright, alright,” Tej said, hands held up in the air like he was trying to placate Rome, and then he did that weird half smirk of his. Rome had learned to be wary of that. "It’s just I never pictured you as the parental type.” 

Why did Brian like this guy, again?

—

Okay, so Tej was alright sometimes. He knew a guy who knew a guy who knew a guy, and all of a sudden Rome had the story about what went down in LA, all direct from some cousin of some guy tight in the LA scene. 

It didn’t even matter that the cousin in LA didn’t know everything, because Rome knew Brian well enough to piece together the rest. And going by the types of people that were turning Brian’s head these days the bottom line for him was either the sister or the brother, though Rome was betting on the brother. 

And at least now Rome knew why Brian’s taste in men had shifted to the bald and built variety. 

—

“How did you get this number, Pearce?”

“And hello to you too, Special Agent Bilkins!” Rome said cheerfully. “So nice to talk to you again.”

“Pearce, I’m going to hang up unless you’ve got a compelling reason I shouldn’t. Start talking.”

Straight to it, okay, Rome could work with that. “I was just, uh, checking in. You know, make sure that whole ‘pardoning’ thing was real. ‘Cause I was thinking of taking a trip, you know, me and Brian, and well, I’d really rather not get pulled into a little room, you know what I mean?”

“A trip.” Bilkins did not sound impressed, and Rome wondered what had happened to the guy to make him all uptight. He’d been a lot more laid back in Miami. 

“Yeah, you know, a vacation. A little sun, a little sand, a little tequila.”

Silence on the other end of the line, and then Rome heard the faint sound of keys clicking. 

“And just where were you thinking of going?”

Did it matter? Christ, just tell him if they were good to go or not already! “Hadn’t decided yet.”

“And how long would this trip be?”

Rome couldn’t help it that he got a little upset at the stonewalling. “What does it even matter, man? We good or not?” he snapped.

“Let me be clear,” Bilkins said. Shit, the dude sounded mad now. “I don’t like you, Pearce, and I’m not inclined to help you out whenever you get it into your fool head to call me. But if you and O’Conner are planning on heading south of the border, then that puts you out of my territory and I couldn’t be happier at the prospect.” Bilkins paused for a second and Rome held his breath. “So if, for instance, O’Conner was looking to reconnect with somebody who was last spotted leaving Mexico, then that could only benefit me in the long run. As long as everyone stays on the other side of the border. Do we understand each other?”

Yeah. Rome got him loud and clear. There was just the one thing. “Leaving Mexico?”

More keys clicking in the background. “I hear the Dominican Republic is nice this time of year,” Bilkins finally said, and Rome could practically hear the sly smile through the phone. “You might try there. Lots of sun. Good beaches in Santo Domingo. Your friend might even find a familiar face.”

Rome grinned. “You know, for a fed you’re alright.”

“And you’re a terrible criminal.” Excuse you, that’s an _officially pardoned_ criminal, Rome thought, but he wasn’t gonna split hairs with the man. “And Pearce, you’d best lose my number.”

“What number?” Rome said, and laughed. After a long moment of utter silence he checked the display. Bilkins clearly hadn’t appreciated his humour; the man had hung up on him. 

—

Getting Brian onto the plane hadn’t exactly been easy, but Rome had learned a long time ago that a little deception went a long way. Tej and Suki had helped out too, and as far as Brian was concerned they were in the DR to check out a Superbird. 

Yeah right, in the Dominican Republic, of all places, but that didn’t matter: it got him on the flight.

And now here they were, in beautiful Santo Domingo, and Rome couldn’t even enjoy the extremely fine ladies over all the place because he was too busy trying to find what Brian had been distracting himself from for all these months. Goddamn Brian anyway for his coping methods. Crazy white boy didn’t deserve as good a friend as Rome. In fact, Rome was an amazing friend. Brian damn well better remember that. 

“Hey!” 

He turned around. 

Brian was standing ten feet back, feet planted in the dirt, arms crossed, stubborn expression on his face. 

Oh well, it had been nice while it lasted. “Yeah, what?”

“When are you gonna stop lying to me, man.” Huh, Rome had forgotten how steely Brian’s eyes could get when he was pissed. “We’re not here to look at a car. No way you’d be acting like this if we were really picking up a Superbird. So what are we doing here, Rome.” 

Rome squinted, working out what to say, when he saw Brian’s eyes widen and fix on something behind Rome. 

Rome was already turning when he heard a voice from behind him say, “Excellent question, O’Conner.”

Wow - in person the big dude was even bigger. Rome had seen guys like that in Chino, but this dude was something else. The guy wasn’t even looking at him though; seemed like he only had eyes for Brian. 

“Dom.”

Rome took his eyes off of Toretto for a second to check it was actually Brian who had spoken, because that was not the Brian he knew. He almost sounded scared. You wouldn’t know it to look at him though - Brian was just as ice cool as he ever was. 

When it became apparent that the two of them were just gonna stare at each other all day Rome decided to step in. “Yo,” he said, rubbing his hands together. Brian blinked and looked at him. “You know anywhere around here we could get some food? They had shit all to eat on the plane.” 

—

They ended up at Toretto’s place.

Rome got a sandwich shoved into his chest before Toretto leaned up against a wall and stared at Brian some more. Brian seemed perfectly happy to stare back in silence, so Rome bit into his sandwich. Pretty good sandwich, all things considered. Could use a bit of mustard though. And some chips would be great. 

Brian ended up breaking the silence first. "I figured you’d be in Mexico.” 

“I was.”

Rome rolled his eyes. At the pace these two were going, it was gonna be Christmas before anything got sorted. 

Toretto crossed his arms in a surprisingly non-threatening move that still managed to show off all his muscles. “You here to arrest me, O’Conner? Interesting way to go about it. And if you’re not, then what are you doing here?” 

Brian’s eyes narrowed. Touchy subject, Rome thought to himself, but he was staying out of it. “I’m not a cop anymore, Toretto. I’m not here to take you in.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” Man, even despite the low level menace that had started coming off the guy Toretto was calm. Rome didn’t think he’d have been anywhere near as calm if it had been him in this position. 

“We’re looking at a car,” Brian said, chill as you please, and Toretto’s eyes flickered over to where Rome was sitting at the table. He sneered and Rome pushed back hard against learned instincts from prison. The sandwich was more interesting anyway. Brian wouldn’t let anything happen while Rome was eating.

Toretto raised an eyebrow at Brian. “Who’s your friend.” The final word got a mocking twist to it, and that was it, plan or no plan Rome was on his feet and heading towards the bastard. 

It would have gone fine, too, Rome could take this guy on no problem, except Brian shot forward and tugged at Rome’s arm, words tumbling out of him, “Rome, step off, man, it’s fine, stop.” To Dom he snarled, “Back off, Dom, for fuck’s sake.” Rome let Brian pull him further back into Brian’s space, away from Toretto, and felt a flare of triumph at the way Toretto’s expression shut down and his eyes hardened. 

The unexpected surge of jealousy receded a bit when Brian kept his grip on Rome’s arm, and then Brian hissed in his ear, “You set this up, so stop acting like a child and let it go.” Rome opened his mouth and then closed it again when Brian glared at him, but he felt mollified when Brian let up his death grip on Rome’s arm and started glaring at Toretto instead.

Rome tugged at his clothes to make sure they were hanging right, and then he looked Toretto square in the face. “You ain’t his only friend,” he said, and because he was something like a gentleman he kept the taunting to a minimum. 

Toretto suddenly seemed a whole lot larger than he had been even seconds before, which was really saying something. Kinda like a cat, except without the fur. “He wasn’t my friend.” Eyes on Brian again, he said, “Friends don’t betray each other. And I don’t care who his friends are.”

Bull. Shit.

Brian apparently thought the same too, because he’d pushed past Rome and was now standing a few paces in front of Toretto. “Fuck you, Dom. Yeah, you were my in, but it wasn’t - It could have been anyone. I didn’t know it was you; not until the end.” 

Rome was getting a great view of the back of Brian’s head and not much else, so he shifted a little to try for a better angle on what was happening. Toretto still looked pissed: no surprise there. Big dude hadn’t seemed anything else the entire time Rome had known him. But Rome’s movement must have caught Brian’s attention, because suddenly there was a lot more space between Toretto and Brian, and Brian was practically pressed up against Rome, blonde hair practically in Rome’s face.

What was Brian playing at here? This was not part of the plan. What happened to the talking it out shit? Brian had always been big on talking. 

What was that stupid saying they’d tried to cram down his throat in juvie? Something about one step forward and three steps back - or was it two steps forward and one step back? Either way, it didn’t matter: Brian and Toretto were doing it. 

Time for Rome to do his thing. 

“You doing time, He-Man?” Rome said, and when he didn’t get an immediate response he followed it up with, “’Cause if you ain’t, and I’m not seeing any prison bars around here, then I don’t think you got cause to be complaining.” 

Rome grit his teeth for a second, but damn it, he was over this already. Water under the bridge. He and Brian were good now. “You’re talking about betrayal but it looks to me like you’re living free. And speaking as someone who did time because I thought I got the short end of the stick, I think you got off easy. So maybe it’s time to shut up already. Besides,” he added, finally managing to duck around Brian’s head long enough to grin at Toretto, “the way I heard it, y’all weren’t just friends.”

And with that he pushed Brian forward so he’d stumble a little and clear a path, and then Rome booked it for the open door and escape. Whatever was gonna happen next, he did not want to be around for it. Brian could take care of himself from now on.

–

A few hours later Brian came up and leaned against the railing next to him, wincing ever so slightly.

Rome eyed him. No visible bruises on his face, what looked like a few bite marks on his neck, a slight stiffness to his right arm, the careful way he was standing - and the dopey, high-on-life megawatt smile on his face. 

Yeah, Brian was fine. 

“I don’t want to hear any details,” Rome warned. It was enough that he’d already overheard them when he’d ventured back to see if the coast was clear yet. That had been two hours ago, and Rome was still feeling traumatized. 

At least he hadn’t been stupid enough to try opening the door. Better his ears than his eyes, after all.

Brian grinned at him and despite having been alone for hours in a foreign country and sitting on the uncomfortable railing near Toretto’s house for the last hour, Rome found himself smiling back. Stupid Brian with his crazy infectious joy. 

“I won’t say a word,” Brian promised. After a second he said, “You’re the best,” and Rome felt himself puff up a bit at the honest affection in the simple statement. He tried to deflect, be demure and humble and all that shit, but Brian started poking him in the ribs and they both ended up breathless from laughter. 

Eventually they settled into a comfortable silence looking out at the city spread before them. Then Brian said, “It’s really nice here,” and without thinking about it Rome said, “It better be if we’re gonna be living here,” and then Brian was looking at him funny and oh, yeah, Rome had forgot he hadn’t mentioned that bit yet. 

“Bilkins said he’d really appreciate it if we all stayed out of the US for a while. You know, just until he retires,” he said, all fake-casual like it didn’t mean anything. Anyway, if Brian got upset Rome could just go for a very fast-paced walk - 100% he’d be able to outrun Brian right now. 

“Bilkins,” Brian repeated faintly. Then, “‘We all?’ What do you - And how did - Tell me you didn’t.”

Rome pushed off from the railing and started walking fast. “You’re gonna love it here Brian, don’t you even worry about it! Tell you what, I’m just gonna start looking for my own place, ’cause you two are goddamn loud, and we’ll all be good. I’ll be back for dinner.”

He got another few paces before Brian’s voice stopped him.

“Hey, Rome!” 

Rome looked over his shoulder, mentally bracing himself. Brian was still where he’d left him; the slowly setting sun made it look like he was drenched in gold, and he was smiling. 

“Thanks. I owe you.” He looked pretty calm, all things considered.

Rome grinned back and raised his eyebrows at him. “Don’t worry: I’m not gonna forget any time soon.”

“I’m still not letting you drive my car!” Brian called out, and Rome flipped him off without looking back.

Yeah. They’d be okay here.

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is lovely!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Something Like a Fight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5323877) by [jelasdax](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jelasdax/pseuds/jelasdax)




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